TOURNAMENT CENTRAL | BRACKET

DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University Softball team begins its quest for a Mid-American Conference championship when it travels to Akron to face No. 6 Miami in the first game of the 2017 MAC Softball Tournament Wednesday.
 
The Huskies (30-19, 15-9) finished second in the MAC West and earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament.  NIU, who posted back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 1999 & 2000, will take on the defending MAC Softball Tournament champion RedHawks (29-22, 14-10) at 5 p.m. Central Time at Firestone Stadium.
 
This is the first meeting of the season between the two schools and the first since last season's MAC Softball Tournament. The RedHawks won that meeting, 2-1, to put themselves in the championship game.
 
"It's the only team we haven't played all year that's in the MAC Tournament," Sutcliffe said. "In one sense it's kind of frustrating, in another, we're both walking into the same situation, not being able to scout each other prior to the game. We just have to look at some film and see what we can do from that."
 
NIU and Miami share a unique MAC Tournament history. The two have met 10 times in the league's conference showpiece, making the RedHawks the most common opponent for NIU in its 17 MAC Tournament appearances. Unfortunately for NIU, Miami has won seven of those 10 meetings. They played each other twice in the 2009 and 2010 tournaments, with Miami winning both games in 2009, while the two split in 2010.
 
Northern Illinois has a 24-34 all-time record in 17 MAC Tournament appearances since 1982. Sutcliffe has led the Huskies to the conference tournament in each of her five seasons at NIU posting an 8-8 record. NIU has advanced to Championship Saturday three times and played in the 2013 MAC Championship Series.
 
The Huskies enter the tournament on a high, winning nine of its last 10 games and three of their last four series. NIU is batting .330 during that last stretch and is averaging 7.1 runs a game. Kayti Grable (Santana, Calif./Santee) has led the way, going .444 with 12 runs batted in and four runs scored.
 
"I think we settled in to who we are as a team," said NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe. "We're still trying to put all three sides of the game together at one time, but our offense has really stepped here down the stretch and cover some other things. Hopefully we can continue that in the MAC Tournament."
 
Sutcliffe shook up the Huskie batting order in the final game of the Central Michigan series, an NIU win, and it's a major factor in NIU's success at the plate of late. She moved Jessica Rio (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield East) from the five hole to the lead off spot, and dropped Kali Kossakowski (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) to clean up behind Grable.
 
 
Sutcliffe hopes the Huskie bats can stay hot when they get to Akron, but knows defense and pitching are going to be key for NIU to be successful this week.
 
"We've got to get off the field," she said. "Our pitchers have to bear down on that first batter of every inning. When we take care of that, we usually end up having a lot more success. They know that. Defensively, we have to make some plays to help our pitchers out."
 
The Huskie pitching staff, like the NIU offense, has been productive of late. Tara Thacker (Uniontown, Ohio/North Canton Hoover) boasts a 1.63 earned run average and a 4-1 record in her last six appearances, while Alex Frenz (Oakville, Mo./Oakville) and Keegan Hayes (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) are 2-0 and 3-0, respectively. 
 
Should NIU win Wednesday evening's game, they will play the winner of the Ohio-Akron game Thursday. Fans can follow all the action of NIU's run in the 2017 MAC Softball Tournament live through live stats on NIUHuskies.com or they can watch it on the MAC's Tournament Central page.
 
-NIU-